


Times we were electric

by BridgetMcKennitt



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Drinking & Talking, Friendship, Gen, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-16 19:12:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7281175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BridgetMcKennitt/pseuds/BridgetMcKennitt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria shook her head. "I don't need anything currently, but thank you. Stark's network is sufficient enough for my needs. Honestly, I contacted you because I wanted to have drinks with an old friend."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Times we were electric

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



Melinda entered the bar after spending thirty minutes prior scouting the place for escape routes and potential dangers. She sat at the bar, sitting on the barstool that gave her a clear line of sight to the front door, and ordered a beer on tap. The person she was meeting should be arriving shortly.

A few minutes later, someone slide into the barstool next to her. "I'll have what she's having."

Melinda turned her head towards the newcomer and smiled. "Took you long enough."

"I got held up at work. There was a fire near one of our facilities in Brazil." Maria thanked the bartender and lifted the mug to her lips. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Melinda's expression was blank when she answered. "Not at all. I haven't been to Brazil since 2003 when we had a mission down there."

Maria laughed as she placed her mug back on the counter. "You mean the time when the two of us were trapped in the mud for hours because of poor intel?"

"That's it." Melinda let herself smirk when she recalled that memory. The two of them had been miserable as they hid in a hole, covered in mud from head to toe. While they waited for their rescue, they spent the next few hours talking to each other. "So why did you call me on an encrypted line? Our former employer no longer exists."

Maria snorted into her mug as she turned to Melinda. "Oh, is that so? Must have been another organization who helped us with intel when the Avengers raided a Hydra facility with Loki's scepter in it."

"Must have been." Melinda reached for her beer to take a drink. "You know the director would be happy to provide any additional intel you need. The same goes for me."

Maria shook her head. "I don't need anything currently, but thank you. Stark's network is sufficient enough for my needs. Honestly, I contacted you because I wanted to have drinks with an old friend."

Melinda raised her eyebrow raising her hand to call over the bartender. "A bottle of tequila, the good stuff, and two shot glasses please." When the bartender brought Melinda the tequila and shot glasses, she opened the bottle and poured the tequila into the shot glasses before sliding one over to Maria. "Then let's drink."

They clinked the rims of their shot glasses against each other before downing the tequila. Melinda scrunched her face as the alcohol went down. Maria did the same before she reached for the tequila bottle to refill their shot glasses. There was something Maria wasn't saying, but Melinda was willing to give her time to say it. They downed their second shot, then their third.

"Hey," Maria said, suddenly. "Do you remember Operation Patch?"

Melinda was thankful that she wasn't drinking her beer at that moment because she was choking on air at the thought of Operation Patch. "Oh, I remember all right." She side eyed Maria as Maria attempted to look innocent. Maria had a better poker face than most and right now, she was failing. "That operation is one of many we swore to never talk about on pain of torture."

"Who says we're talking about it? I'm certainly not." Maria grinned against the rim of her shot glass. "Fury never did figure out where the goat came from or how it got into his house."

Melinda smiled despite herself. The reason why neither she or Maria were ever caught, or even suspected of pulling off such an elaborate prank on then Director Nick Fury, was because they were both no nonsense agents who were above such things. Their eyes met and they both laughed. The goat was only one of the many pranks they'd pulled over the years as SHIELD agents, with no one the wiser.

The bartender brought them another round of beers and Maria wrapped her hands around the cool glass. She let out a loud sigh and Melinda asked her what was wrong.

Maria stared bitterly into her mug before lifting it to her lips. She downed half the liquid in the mug before setting it back down on the counter. "I miss our former employer. Yes, it's still around, but it's not the same and it can never be the same. The current political environment won't allow it to be."

"Yeah, but back then it was filled with rotten snakes. I miss it, too, but we can't go back." Melinda downed another shot of tequila. "I'm sorry you've had to be the public face for the fall."

Maria gave Melinda a careless shrug of her shoulders that was anything but. "I knew what I was getting into when I decided to work at Stark Industries immediately after instead of the private sector or even in the shadows like you and Phil. It was an assignment Fury gave me because he knew I could handle it."

"You've done very well. I've been keeping up with the hearings, both on and off camera."

"Too many hearings, if you ask me. Every time an Avenger so much as sneezes, I get called up." Maria made a disgruntled noise. "I'm not even associated officially with the Avengers, but it's easier to contact me instead of Captain America."

"They probably think you're easier to manage than Rogers. They haven't see your kill record like I have."

"You were there for some of them, too." Maria gave Melinda a wry smile. "I know we were spies doing spy things, but I was shocked by how many people I thought I could trust were just lying snakes in the grass. It made me realize just how valuable trust is when it's stripped from you. I guess what I'm saying is that I trust you."

Melinda tried not to let surprise show on her face. They'd been friends for years, and Melinda could still call Maria a friend, but she never expected for Maria to admit it.

She was touched.

However, because they were both no nonsense women with their tough exterior reputations to maintain, Melinda nudged Maria's shoulder with her own. "I think someone's had one too many drinks." That wasn't true. There'd been plenty of occasions where they went out for drinks and drank far more than what they'd had tonight. "You know what you need?"

"What's that?"

A grin graced her face, one she knew would cause Maria to be on her guard. "Let's just say I think you and I need to do Operation Patch Redux I know where Phil's going to be in a few days."

Maria laughed, the cheer returning to her eyes, and she nodded. "We'd need way more time to do this right than what we have right now, but I'm in." Then she leaned in towards Melinda to whisper, "I also know Fury's current location."

Perfect.

*

Fury returned to his safe house in Rome, soaking wet and chilled to the bone. Most of Hydra were dead and buried, but even a broken head could grow two in its place given enough time and resources. He wasn't about to let Hydra regrow in numbers or strength.

He dropped his duffel bag on the floor as his head reached out for the light switch. When light flooded the room, Fury wished he didn't as he took in the sight of four goats taking up space in the living room, as if they'd always been there. He looked closer and saw there was a letter shaved into the goat's side. Actually, all of the goats had a letter shaved onto them, spelling out FURY.

It was ten years ago all over again and he still didn't know where to begin finding the perpetrator.

"What the fuck!"

*

Coulson sometimes regretted taking on the position of Director SHIELD. He enjoyed fieldwork and he hated red tape. As a director, he was always breathing in red tape on a day to day basis. After flying into Toronto, he just wanted to kick off his shoes, put his feet up, and watch some mindless TV.

He opened the door of the hotel room he reserved under a false name and abruptly stopped in the middle of the doorway. There were four goats sleeping on his hotel bed, looking like they'd been there for hours. One of them lifted its head to look at him before snorting and going back to sleep.

Coulson's mouth opened as if he was going to say something before he closed it again. Even after everything he'd seen as an agent, he didn't understand what was going on here. One thing was for sure, he needed to find a new place to sleep for the night.

Somewhere in a different part of the world, two no nonsense friends were clinking their wine glasses together and congratulating each other for an operation well done.


End file.
